Category: Editorial

Another Veteran’s Day without my husband, Lonal Robinson, a Vietnam Veteran. It feels different. A void has been left. I however, remember his work to reintegrate himself into life on the home soil. His work as a young man made him a great man because he did what was necessary to build a life for his family and contributed to society through unselfish volunteer work; such as the youth sports leagues in Illinois, Arkansas, and Houston, TX, with the Peggy Park Rebuild and #Emancipation Park renovation! His life was recognized four years ago by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee at Houston’s City Hall Veteran’s Day Ceremony. So, today, I will remember his service as I recall my uncles who served along with a brother, plus one son, who choose to call me his mom. I love them all for the lessons taught and the burdens they lifted from citizens back home who yet not know or understand what the soldiers had to do to return home to America. Being in the family of a service member brings with it many details of life. Happy Veteran’s Day America! Thank you for your grateful service statement may not be enough. We probably need to open doors of opportunity that have been closed and provide real regulatory benefits beyond the VA Education Bill and the VA Housing Loan Bill.

So, today, I will remember his service as I recall my uncles who served along with a brother, plus one son, who choose to call me his mom. I love them all for the lessons taught and the burdens they lifted from citizens back home who yet not know or understand what the soldiers had to do to return home to America. Being in the family of a service member brings with it many details of life. Happy Veteran’s Day America! Thank you for your grateful service statement may not be enough. We probably need to open doors of opportunity that have been closed and provide real regulatory benefits beyond the VA Education Bill and the VA Housing Loan Bill.

We have a new president-elect and a Congress with enough votes to get any legislation passed and signed that is desired and or needed by those who have served our grateful nation. We can and should do more for the families of those who have served. Lip service is not what families require. Tangible results are needed to advance American families.

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The defeat of HRC was based on her failure to deliver a large enough portion of white voters to coalesce with minority voters to win a majority of votes in the Electoral College. If the split inside the white community is not great enough, the black vote will not determine the outcome. That was the case in this election. The increase in the number of white voters and the across the board support of white voters for Trump led to his win. Half of the American public appears ready to join the xenophobic and European nationalist fervor that is gripping the western “democracies.”

The question for me is how can the high level of black participation in this election can be mobilized to participate in the liberation struggles of African peoples. We have to seriously discuss the limits of electoral politics and what else we must do to achieve equality and justice.

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“We must out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.”

President Obama said it best, and the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference (CBC-ALC) will address the most urgent, complex, and challenging policy issues facing our nation, of which one is supporting small and innovative businesses. I am committed to fostering business partnerships between the Federal Government and the private sector, and it brings me great pleasure to invite you to participate as a vendor or small business owner during my braintrust: Meet/Match-Minority Suppliers Doing Business with the Public and Private Sector during the 46th Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference (CBC/ALC).

The Meet/Match procurement event will provide many small, minority, veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, and women-owned businesses a great opportunity to market their products and services to public and private procurement officers and contract managers. Minority vendors and suppliers will also learn how their products and services can be competitive in both domestic and international markets.

The Meet/Match vendor outreach session will be held on Friday, September 16th, 2016 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, in Room 146 A & B, in Washington, DC.

I look forward to your participation in the 46th Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference. To indicate your interest in participating in the session register at the above link or contact Abiola Afolayan, Esq. at abiolaafolayan@gmail.com.

The title used to give reason as to why my generation doesn’t vote is called Voter Apathy. Surely, it is such a thing, but I do not truly believe it is the reason why my fellow peers do not vote.

I am 29 years – old and a proud 80’s baby! I don’t believe I’m in the Generation X category but I’m not quite sure if I fall in the Generation Y group either. I think we are the Straddle on the Fence Generation or better yet the Peter Pan Generation.

My generation has chosen not to grown up and When we choose to not grow up and assume the responsibilities of adulthood, we choose apathy.

The 2014 Midterm Election cycle, which was pure torture for any Democrat to watch, The Grand Old Party had a magnificent night. With each Republican that won followed a bittersweet victory speech, while they watched with pride as their opponents gave hardy concession speeches of a better tomorrow; well that was definitely the case in Texas. We have heard statistics for years that Texas should be a “purple” state. There are plenty Caucasians and majority minorities that live in the state that pledge allegiance to the democratic plight that the state truly should be “blue”. The voter turn-out says otherwise. It’s exactly what election night said, it is “Battle Red”.

But how is this possible? Yes, Texas is a wealthy state, filled with Oil and Gas, Energy, Cattle industry big timers but for every one of them there are three that aren’t doing quite so well. Education has been the biggest topic in Harris County within the past ten years. Healthcare is continually the no- go zone and wage increase, well the lack there of had Houstonians picketing outside of Burger King a couple of months ago and we re-elected those who oppose all these things again so they may continue the same practices.

Voter Apathy also known as the “It doesn’t affect me syndrome” allowed many young voters to stay at home and not exercise their right to vote. But I must say it is a duty. It is a responsible duty that we all must practice for the sake of our own lives and others around us.

I read on many social media sites that people really thought their vote didn’t count or the election process is just one big scam. How do you compete with that when the Peter Pan Generation were budding young adults during the Al Gore and George Bush election sham? That type of situation made a lasting impression in the minds of these adults. It made some more intense in their desire to vote and it turned others all the way off.

But it’s sad to see that its so many people of color who willingly and fervently choose not to vote. Legislation is the only thing that made and keeps the African American free. Legislation is the only reason why African Americans can vote. All of these things require a voted in legislator and of course, a vote. Then we must remember that the Voting Rights Act has to be voted to be renewed every 25 years. The power of the vote… and you say yours doesn’t matter, right?

What does this all mean to my fellow Peter Pans’? We must grow up. We must become our parents and realize that we must stay abreast of the current issues around us. We must watch the news in the morning before work and before bed. We must engage in who governs the world around us from the mayor of our city to the governor of the state. We must understand what it means when we vote for or against propositions in our cities and what that will mean in your everyday life. If we take a slight interest and not have so much apathy for things we have not yet to understand, we may can make use of the gifts bestowed upon us.

Voting is not a burden; it is a privilege that so many did not get the opportunity to have. It’s our duty to govern ourselves since America is the land of the free. How can we be a democratic society but don’t exercise your constitutional right to vote? To be an American citizen it is your right to vote.

For the next four years we will have a governor of Texas that isn’t a reflection of the Peter Pan generation. We will raise children under an administration that doesn’t want to provide adequate funding to public schools when they need it the most. We will raise children under an administration that doesn’t favor women’s health choices and women’s rights in wages. We will raise children under an administration that doesn’t care about the millions of children without health insurance because of one reason, APATHY.

The apathy towards the working class and the APATHY towards the minority man of power in Washington, D.C. .The war of classism and race will be our continued issue for the next four years all because we didn’t want to grow up.